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Drug lab backlog slows heroin overdose probe

The wait to find out exactly what type of heroin is killing people in Norfolk County has been too long for District Attorney Michael Morrissey.

Morrissey is among law enforcement officials who are trying to pinpoint the reason for the recent surge in heroin overdoses and suspected heroin overdose deaths locally, the Enterprise reported.

But the State Police drug testing facility in Sudbury has an estimated backlog of thousands of cases – state police wouldn’t say Monday exactly how many – leaving law enforcement to await the results of drug tests for months.

“I’ve seen stuff take nine months to a year,” Morrissey said Monday.

Statewide, there were at least 185 fatal heroin overdoses from November through February. More than one-third of those deaths – 69 deaths – occurred in Plymouth, Bristol and Norfolk counties combined.

Chemists at the State Police drug testing facility in Sudbury have yet to identify any patterns that could be causing the spike in deaths, state police Lt. Daniel Richard said in an email on Monday.

“To this point there is no pattern that is jumping out at the chemists as they do their examinations,” Richard said. “The work continues to identify any similarities to the samples if there is one to be found.”

The tests are conducted to identify the compounds in drug samples that are collected by the medical examiner during an autopsy, or during a criminal investigation, Richard said.

State police have cited three possible contributing factors to the recent surge in overdose deaths: a potent strain of heroin flooding the streets, suppliers cutting heroin with a synthetic substance such as the powerful prescription drug fentanyl, or addicts using heroin together with other drugs, such as Percocet.

Morrissey said that the state police drug testing facility receives about 1,200 drug samples, on average, each month, and chemists can only get to about 700, contributing to a considerable backlog. Officials also cited the crisis caused by former state chemist Annie Dookhan, whose misconduct at a state drug lab has jeopardized thousands of drug convictions, as contributing to the backlog.

The delay in testing, and not knowing more about the heroin that is killing people, affects emergency responders who show up to a reported overdose, said Brockton Police Chief Robert Hayden. On Sunday, Brockton saw its eighth suspected heroin overdose death in three weeks.

“It would be immensely helpful if we knew exactly what we’re dealing with,” Hayden said Monday. “Not having that information puts us in a hole that we don’t want to be in. I’d love to see adequate funding and attention to identifying exactly what our addicts are putting into their bodies.”

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz recently requested expedited state testing of 400 grams of heroin seized in a Brockton drug bust on Feb. 28 to rule out any link to fentanyl.

Norfolk County, which includes Stoughton, Avon, Randolph and Holbrook, saw a total of 61 overdose deaths last year – and officials are predicting the county will soon surpass that number. From November through February, Norfolk County saw 15 fatal heroin overdoses, Bristol County saw 34, and Plymouth County, 20.

In an effort to combat fatal overdoses, local police and fire departments, including in Stoughton and Brockton, are arming emergency responders with Narcan, a brand name for the drug naloxone, used to reverse the effects of an overdose.

Taunton has seen seven suspected heroin overdose deaths since Jan. 1. Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said he’s put together a task force to address the growing problem.

“We have not yet determined exactly why there appears to be a concentration of overdoses in the Brockton-Taunton area,” Sutter said in a statement Monday. “We are examining several different theories at this time.”

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